Less a story about the war and more about sabotage, this film deals with the importance of locomotives as a matter of defense, and the efforts to prevent them from doing what they need to do to help the north win the war. Sterling Hayden, Barton MacLane and Clayton Moore (sans mask) star in this colorful action film that is more about a situation to protect rather than a strong, complex story, and yet it resonates because it represents situations of other wars involving the destruction of important buildings or moving vehicles in an effort to prevent one side from winning.
The pretty Eve Miller, once a brief Warner Brothers contract player (co-star of "The Big Trees") is great in her rather limited role, but she's just as strong as the male characters who dominate the film. The rugged three leads, all good, help in make the story interesting even though it isn't the strongest, basically an important theme. The biggest surprise for me is MacLane who usually played the bad guy in films like this but is just a loud mouthed teddy bear in his characterization. The colorful photography really adds to the impact, and I bet this looked really great on a big screen.
The pretty Eve Miller, once a brief Warner Brothers contract player (co-star of "The Big Trees") is great in her rather limited role, but she's just as strong as the male characters who dominate the film. The rugged three leads, all good, help in make the story interesting even though it isn't the strongest, basically an important theme. The biggest surprise for me is MacLane who usually played the bad guy in films like this but is just a loud mouthed teddy bear in his characterization. The colorful photography really adds to the impact, and I bet this looked really great on a big screen.